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10 Intentionally Cruel Ironies About Public Education in NC

Mark Johnson literally sends out a statement about how he was going to “reduce” testing in a week where midterms and state exams (EOC’s and NC Finals) were being administered.

Teachers fill out a working conditions survey every other year for the state that has no questions about how teachers feel the state handles public education.

SAS releases EVAAS scores for a current class well after the school year has begun. In the case for high school block classes, these EVAAS scores come nearer to the end of the semester than at the beginning.

Most of the exams for fall semesters take place after the winter break.

The less experience one has in education magically makes that person more “appropriate” to be the state’s (or even the nation’s) highest public school official.

Failed initiatives like NC’s virtual charter schools and the Read to Achieve program get added funding and more support when data shows they are failing miserably.

The state spends money to hire a team to audit DPI to identify where money is being wasted and that team concludes that DPI is not spending enough.

Leaders in the NCGA boasted an average teacher salary of over $53,000 in 2018-2019 when they released a salary schedule could never sustain that average.

The School Performance Grading system does a better job of showing how poverty affects student achievement than it does showing how teachers help students grow.

North Carolina has more NBCT’s than any other state, has arguably one of the better public university systems in the nation, and has a plethora of quality private institutions that offer teacher training, but the state has a manufactured teacher shortage.

That is just crazy! Anyone making decisions about teachers pay should spend a week in the classroom. Yes, a week! Then they would really see what is involved. And the money would soon become available!